Traction means for pneumatic tired wheels



July 7, 1953 w, PASKE I 2,644,503

TRACTION MEANS FOR PNEUMATIC TIRED WHEELS Filed Feb. 3, 1950 N I w I MPatented July 7, 1953 PATENT OFFICE :TRAGTION-MEANSTOR PNEUMATIC TIREDfiWHEELs a1lacH=Paske;Wells, Minn; assignor to Clark?IIIC eppert, De's-Moines', Iowa.

eAppIiQationLEebruary 3, 195 0,. -Serial.-No.-L42,296

ilMyi inventionz. relatesv to .ai,traction;chain. .or -theilikeflfor.pneumatic'itired wheelsiand more particularly to. a. novel means for.attachingithe :traction "element; to. .or I detaching. it. from such .a.wheel.

fLThe. use .of chains on} the .whe'iels of vehicle's for T'the. purposeof .lincreasing' traction snow, xm'1d 'ar'idflthe" like is,.. of.course, notv new. 'fThis has. conunonlymeendonei in. two-general ways.One .lmethod consists .of. using two lelongated "chain" lengths.joineds.tog.ether..-by. a,.p1ur'a1ity of short" transverse chain"lengths in spaced. relation and-designed. to; be. mounted. about the.periphery .of the 'ti're. withl'theirr free ends .j'oined 'tog'ether by.a; suitable means. The othermethod hasibeen tosecureone.;or,.more.individual chain lengths I. transversely.arouridJthe the in.- spaced relation. V

Inmounting; the longerzbh'ain pr Lthe'ilfirst type thereareseveralldisadvantages. I.-.Ide'ally,1 it is accomplished ,by' jacking up"the, wheel, deflating thetire, mounting thejch'ains andfthen' inflatingthe tire." Irr'this -way"-'the chains. can be. -I nade tight sov asltoavoid anyslapping, against, .the

road surface. Y"Ob viously, "the circumstancesl requiringlthe use ofchains is f seldom foun'd in as'etting' permitting" their mounting in;the! ideal manner. "Often; the vehicletwill. already. beliast in.mud-or, snow and. consequently ;.the; Tdifiicfulties I in putting. 'onchains is ,very apparent. '.',Occa. siona'lly, this a type of chain cani be -usdhy. laying: 'it' longitudinally; on' the road. .surfacei forwa'rdly' or rearwaijdlylof'ithejwheehand. mdving the vehicle so .',that'"the wheel; passesontoithe chain. ;The" free, ends .l'of the. chain.canlgthen be. manually pulled around'jj jthe. wheel. and kse-i cured;iiHoweVenL'ifithe vehicle ,is.:a1ready stuck, it isobvious thatthiscannot lbef. done, land the only ,way to..mount" the lch'ain's'.i's'Lto-Qjackjthe wheeliup; if that can' be done. In Gold .or muddyweathen'iit is a very; disagreeable-task; v 1 "l'lihe 'guse of."dividuali. chains. gofijthe {second type are. easier to ,usejsinceithewheel. neednct be jacked,,up. ""lThese .are,.merelyscurediransverselyaroundlthetire by straps .orlthe like. and wereespecially easy to mountionspoked wheels.

However, the use of spoked wheels hasge'nerally given way to ,wheels ofsolid; disc/,- construction 50. .flhatltheiiithd;bfhaliplyihgjthes'indiy'idual chains is'lno longer. capableiof being. usd except bylQprovidihg. flpeningsiri the. Solid I 'disc portion 'tively short periods ofitimesuch as whenitravfeling through extremely muddyareas, getting. out

of mud holes, snow drifts or the like andi'driving .on snow coveredroads afterrecent snows. Usually, after'ther chains have served their,purpose it is desirableto remove them andconsequently the ease withwhich they canbe attached to, or

detached from the wheel isa matter oibc-ncern to all who have occasionto use them It is therefore an object of. my.inventioni to provide ameans for. quickly and easily attachinga traction chain or the liketransversely over a pneumatic tire on a 'wheeland alsdfor quickly andeasily detaching ittherefrom. "For this pur pose my invention consistsof. a. pair of hooker keeper members designed respectively to.befrietionally held between thetire and rim,on opposite'sides of the.tireland a .pair ofjslotted connectingplates secured respectively130.8201! ,end eta length of chain, strap or the .like, thereby makingit possible" to mount the ohain;trans versely around the tire byengaging each connecting member in one of .the hooks. ,Morespecifically, these connecting plates are, provided with a shoulderportion that engages ,a p'ortionv of the rim so that any pulling forcetransmitted throughthe chain isdirected against the'grim and the hooksor; keepers serve thepchiei pur suriace'or mired in mud or'snow.

These and other objects will beappareht to those skilled .inlthe art. ainvention consists in the constructiongar rangement, and combination ofthe variousnparts of the. device, whereby vthe objects contemplated I'areattained.ashereinafter morefully set forth,

ofjfthe'current typevelucle WheeIsQthrQu'ghWhich 'the straps. or. chainscant-be, passed. 5

- I'L'IfhemseLbf "chainson yehi'oleiwhe u er'ally necessary or"desirableonly'for compara els tishgenr,

pointed out in. my claims, and' illustrated in theaccompanying.drawings,.in which: r

Fig. 1 is a side view of a fragmentary portion of .a pneumatic .tiredvehicle wheel embodying the use of a traction chain :having myattach'ingmeans. V

Fig. 2 is a side view of a fragmentary portion I a pneumatic casing ortire II in which there is the customary inner tube I2. It is for such awheel that my invention is more particularly adapted. While Fig. 3 showsa standard pneumatic tire and inner tube, the tube is of no moment asused with my invention and my attaching means can be applied as well totubeless tires now being manufactured. The numeral I3 designates asubstantially U-shaped hook or keeper member which is preferably formedfrom a flat rectangular metal bar that is bent transversely to itslongitudinal axis. Two opposite sides of this bar are tapered inwardlyso that one end I4 is narrower than the other as shown in Fig. 2. Aconnecting plate I5 is formed from a flat piece of metal and is alsotapered to provide one end narrower than the other as shown in Fig. 4.The tapering of either the hook I3 or connecting plate I5 is a matter oftaste and is not required to the function of this invention. In theplate I5 I have provided two slots I5 and II as shown in Fig. 4..Forwardly of the slot I! the wide end portion of the plate I5 is bentupwardly at substantially right angles alon its longitudinally axis toform a shoulder portion as shown in Fig. 4 and rearwardly of the slot I1the narrower end portion of the plate I5 containing the slot I6 is bentdownwardly along the longitudinal axis thereof but to a lesser degreethan the bend or shoulder portion in the wide end.

When using my attaching means, at least two hooks I3 and two connectingplates I5 are required as will later be described in detail.

The numeral I8 designates a length of link' chain having an engaginghook I9 on each end and each hook I9 is designed to be secured to one ofthe plates I5 through the respective slot I6 as shown in Fig. 4. H

In operation this attaching means is used in the following manner. Thewideend of the hook I3 is placed between the rim I0 and casing II asshown in Fig. 2 at any designated point on one side of the wheel. Thiscan be more easily accomplished if the casing is first deflated. Thehook I3 is inserted as far as possible until the outside edge of the rimIE1 is engaged by the inside surface of the U portion of the hook I3. Inthis positionthe'narrow end I4 of the hook I3 will be spaced apart fromthe rim II) and will extend in a direction toward the hub of the wheel.Another hook. I3 is similarly arranged on the other side of the wheelopposite the first placed hook. After the casing is inflated the hooksI3 will be held securely in place by frictional engagement of the rimand casing as shown in Fig. 3. Once in place. these hooks I3 need not beremoved whether the chain is used or not since they do not interfere inany way with the operation of the wheel. Consequently they can initiallybe mounted at a time suitable and convenient to the vehicle operator. Toattach the chain I8 it is merely necessary to detachably secure one ofthe plates l5 to the narrow end I4 of one of the hooks I3. This is doneby passing the slot I! in the connecting plate I5 over the end I4 of thekeeper I3 so that the shoulder portion of the plate I5 rests on aportion of the rim II]. The chain is then passed around the tire and theother plate is secured to the other hook in a, manner similar to thefirst plate; Inthis way the plates will not slip either laterally oroutwardly because of the keeper and any force or pull transmittedthrough the chains will be directed against the rim upon which theshoulder portions of the plates are mounted. To remove the chains, theprocedure for attaching them is reversed. An adjustable link 20 with thekeeper ring 2! may be embodied in the chain to facilitate the mountingor detaching of the chain-to the wheel. Such a link has long been usedto provide slack when mounting chains or to increase their length and noclaim is made to such a link. Itis useful with my attachingfmeans butnot necessary to its function.

It can readily be seen from the above descrip on the inside rim oppositethe hook on, the out? side rim that is visible to the eye. Consequentlysince no complicated snaps are involved, all that is requiredistorea'chthe arm'around thetire to a point opposite to the visible hookand secure the chain.

Often'just one traction chain will suflice to get the vehicle out of aparticular spot but more than one pair of hooks I3 can be'mounted atintervals about the rim to be used if necessary. Once the chains haveserved their purpose, they can be quickly removed so that it isunnecessary to ride for miles on chains when they are not actuallyneeded. .This needless use .of chains has been a frequent practicebecause'ofthe work involved in removing them once they are mount ed. Andobviously, when chains can be and are removed easily as with myinvention, they are subjected to less wear and will last longer.

In the drawings I haveshown a single chain length secured to theconnecting plates I5. It is apparent that more than onechain could beused or that material other than a link chain, such as a strap or thelike, could bev used with my attaching means and I. wish to point outthat the particular element used to increase traction, that is a linkchain, as shown in the drawings, is given only as illustration and it isthe means for attaching such an element to a vehicle wheel and its usein combination with a traction ele: ment for pneumatic tires that is'thepurpose and objectof my invention.v Some changes may be made in theconstruc-' tion and arrangement of my traction means for pneumatic tiredwheels without departing from the real spiritand purpose of myinvention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modifiedforms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may bereasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

1. In combination, a vehicle rim having a.

pneumatic casing, a hook member secured to one versely opposite saidfirst hook, an elongated flexible member capable of increasing tractionon said casing when arranged transversely around it, an aperturedconnecting plate secured to each end of said elongated member, means forincreasing and decreasing selectively the effective length of saidelongated member, and a shoulder portion on each of said connectingplates, each of said connecting plates embracing one of said hookmembers with said shoulder portions resting on a portion of said vehiclerim; said hooks being held on said wheel rim entirely by the frictionalengagement of said wheel rim and said pneumatic casing with said hooks.

2. In a combination with a pneumatic tired wheel having external rimflanges a traction increasing means comprising, a pair of keeperssecured to said rim and having at least a portion of them extending pastsaid wheel external flanges toward the center of said wheel, a pair ofconnecting plates having slots in them, a traction increasing meanssecured to and between said connecting plates, shoulders formed on saidconnecting plates adjacent to the connecting plate slots, and a meansfor increasing and decreasing selectively the effective length of saidtraction increasing means; said connecting plates slidably embracing thefree end of said keepers and the shoulder portions 'of said connectingplates engaging the external flanges of said wheel rim; whereby pullingforces on said plates are directed against said wheel rim flange andsaid keepers prevent lateral movement of the connecting plates toprevent their disengagement from said wheel rim flanges.

3. In a combination with a pneumatic tired wheel having external rimflanges a traction increasing means comprising a pair of generallyU-shaped keepers having one leg of each inserted and clamped betweensaid tire and said wheel rim, the other leg of each of said keepersextending from the periphery of said wheel rim toward the center of saidwheel and past the external flange of said rim, a pair of connectingplates having slots in them, a traction increasing means secured to andbetween said connecting plates, shoulders formed on said connectingplates adjacent to the connecting plate slots, and a means forincreasing and decreasing selectively the effective length of saidtraction increasing means; said connecting plates slidably embracing thefree end of said keepers and the shoulder portion of said connectingplates engaging the external flange of said wheel rim; whereby pullingforces on said plates are directed against said wheel rim flange andsaid keepers prevent lateral movement of the connecting plates toprevent their disengagement from said wheel rim flanges; said hook-likekeepers being held in position entirely by the frictional engagementtherewith of the tire and rim of a pneumatic tired wheel between whichit is mounted.

WALLACE H. PASKE.

